Category Archives: Christian principles and virtues

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I tell you 2016 flew by so fast I was surprised it was that time again. But we had a wonderful time. My family was together and that always makes me happy. Both of my sons and daughters-in-law are Christians and they are teaching my six-year-old grandson to serve God. I know we can’t make that decision for him but at least we can give him the foundation.

With that said I must talk about one of my pet peeves. I hate it when I hear someone say ‘Christmas is all about the kids.’ No it isn’t! Christmas is about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! We are celebrating His birth. Yes, I get the gift giving concept because God gave us His Only Son as a gift that we can accept and have eternal life. I guess you could say Jesus was the First Christmas Gift. And listen, I love giving at Christmas and I love getting gifts also but please let’s remember the real reason for the celebration.

Don’t get me wrong I love children…well most of them anyway. I have been around a few I found hard to tolerate but that is not the child’s fault. There are no bad children just terrible parents who fail to teach what they should. But that’s a subject for another post.

Thank you for stopping by and come back whenever you want; you are always welcome. And please when you hear someone say ‘Christmas is all about the kids’ explain to them what Christmas is really about.

The last few weeks our country has seen some unhappy times. But just as we share our joys and successes we share our heartbreak and sorrows. Yes, we’ve had different opinions on some things that happened here but thank God we are still free to voice those opinions. The citizens, both men and women, who gave their lives so we can live free would not be proud of how we have abused what they paid the ultimate price for us to enjoy. Yes my heart grieves for those Officers in Dallas and I pray for those families. I pray for all our officers and first responders everywhere. I invite you to pray with me. And while we are at it look up; our flag still waves and we can choose how and where we worship. This is still the best country in the world to live in. Let’s honor our fallen heroes by treating each other with respect no matter what color our skin. Though we may not agree with their opinions we should respect their rights to voice those opinions but absolutely without violence. If we all stand together and do what 2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us to do God will hear our cries and heal our land. Don’t say “Well that’s Old Testament stuff.” God never changes He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. What He promised in the Old Testament He will do today. No politician can straighten out this country. What we need is for Christians to stand up for God’s principles and virtues. If we do God will stand beside us and the United States will once again be the great country it once was. Look up! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

I wear a cross on a chain around my neck. It isn’t meant to bring me good luck or protect me from anything. It is there as a reminder of the price my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ paid for my salvation. It reminds me of the footsteps He took on His was to be crucified. He knew the pain He would suffer and worse than physical pain the anguish He would suffer from being separated from our Father for even a second. He took that walk and the Cross as a substitute for me. He paid my sin debt in full. But not only mine but all sins past, present and future. He knew no sin yet He became sin so I would not have to. Now sin is not the issue; faith is the issue “Faith alone in our Lord Jesus Christ alone.”

Yes, I wear a cross on a chain around my neck but not for luck. Every time I touch that cross I think of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His free gift of salvation. He gave His all so we will not have to. When you see a cross please remember the price He paid. If you have not accepted His free gift please think about it, pray and ask God to accept you as a member of His family.

Thank you for stopping by I hope you come back soon. Have a Happy Easter and remember it is not about the Easter Bunny hiding eggs, please remember the real reason for the celebration.

Now you might think I’m crazy but I missed Old Red screeching out a crow saying it was time to get up when it was still dark outside. I missed him escaping through a hole in the wire of the chicken pen and scratching in the leaves looking for bugs; and Momma chasing him out of her flower beds and garden. I didn’t miss Pearl as much because mostly she just clucked and stayed in the pen. It seemed we were slowly erasing everything from the farm except our memories. Now our life was the Creek just like all the neighbors. We all struggled to get by but shared what we had and were happy to help anyone in need. Everyone had memories they liked to talk about. When the weather got warmer they would stop by and sit on the edge of the porch dangling their feet and legs over the side and recall better times. Sometimes if Momma was caught up with the laundry she did for the fancy ladies in town we would walk to where people were gathered at someone else’s front porch and listen to the stories. While the grown ups talked the kids played chase or baseball in the street. It had not rained in weeks so the red Georgia clay had been ground by vehicles and feet to a soft, orange powder. Our bases were smashed cans and nobody had gloves. We used a short weathered-gray board for the bat. When someone would slide for a base the dust would swirl and settle over all of us.

As the days grew longer and warmer Momma dug a five gallon bucket of chicken poop from the pen. Then with Daddy’s old push plow she tilted the compost into the soil and made a garden. She planted rows of peas, beans, squash, potatoes and tomatoes. If everything came up and did well we would can them and have vegetables for this coming winter.

Now we slept with our windows open and listened to the crickets and the low hooting of an owl hunting in the woods behind our house. I would look out the window and watch the fireflies darting about in the darkness. A soft breeze slipped in and cooled the room. I was getting to know the survival techniques of the Creek and had come to love the life I now lived. I thanked God for not punishing me for my mean thoughts and selfish actions and promised to try and do better. Then with a heavy sigh I rolled over onto my side and fell asleep.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you come back soon for more tales. God bless.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year. We got to spend Christmas with our oldest son and wonderful grandson. Our youngest son is a minister and could not make it home this year but we keep up the hope for next year. He is working for God and that is what’s more important. Again our oldest son had New Year’s dinner with us. We are so blessed that both our sons are Christians and we all have a close relationship.

Did you make any resolutions? Did I? I don’t know that I would call it a resolution but I do plan to work more on my manuscripts and try to continue my Creek posts.

Well the election is over and it doesn’t matter who you voted for and it really is none of my business. I’ve heard people who are ecstatic that President Obama has been given another chance to see what he can do. Whether it is good or bad, fair or unfair is not for me to say. And, on the other hand I’ve heard people say that now our country will go to hell in a hand basket; that President Obama will not only give away the farm but will toss in the livestock. Again, it is not for me to say what my opinion is on the subject. Honestly, I’m not worried one way or the other. Long before last Tuesday my son reminded me that no matter who is president that Jesus is still King. To me that’s all that’s important. I know no matter what that God will always take care of me and my family. He always has.

Are you worried about the country? Come on… do you honestly think one man can build our country up or tear it down? Only God can destroy our country. We must exercise our faith in Him. Remember what He promised in 2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear their prayers from Heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land. So there you go! Christians should not be wasting their time pointing fingers and blaming others. The reason our country is in the mess it is in is because God’s people, His children have turned away from listening to Him and following His principles and virtues and have started living like the world. Today it is hard sometimes to tell the Christians from the world. We accept far more than we should and we fail to stand up and speak up for our beliefs. When they wanted to take prayer and devotionals out of the public schools we sat on our hands and let them. Then they wanted to remove the Ten Commandments from all public buildings and again we did not speak up. They said it is all right to kill unborn babies and we allowed that and same-sex marriage and on and on and on… Where does it stop?

It will stop when Christians get on their knees and humble themselves, pray and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways! So stop blaming President Obama or whoever is in office and start putting the blame on our backs where it belongs. If God’s children will pray and stand up for God’s principles and virtues (and apply them to their lives) this country can once again be a wonderful place to live. Our children can play outside or walk a block to the store without having to worry about being kidnapped, raped and/or murdered. Neighbors will be willing to help neighbors. Yes, there will be jobs for everyone and we can once again freely seek the American Dream. It is up to us, not one of us but all of us. Christians you should never have to tell someone you are a Christian they should be able to tell it by the way you live.

Thanks for stopping by and until next time please read your Bible, seek God’s way and keep praying. We can once again be God’s Client Nation and have His favor.

A career in writing can be a very lonely job. However, it can be equally exciting; we get to see our characters grow and develop their personalities. We get to travel places that we might only get to go in our imagination. Being an author can also bring along fear and doubt. We get rejections on top of rejections while we see others who don’t write as well or are at least equal with us. We wonder “What am I doing wrong?” The truth might be that the problem is not in your writing at all.

We can’t doubt and have faith all at the same time. It is impossible! We either have faith that God gave us our talent and we will be successful in His time or we doubt that He will do what He said He will do. If we doubt, in essence we are calling God a liar. He either keeps His promises or He doesn’t. And I for one know He doesn’t lie.

We just need to have patience and wait for His time. Sometimes it might take days, weeks or even years but when the time is right we will see God working to answer our prayers. This has happened to me so many times. I once prayed for a house in a certain area. Well we moved into an apartment and it was nice so I quit praying for the house. A couple of years later we bought a house in the area I had prayed about. I didn’t think about my prayer until one day I was backing out of our drive and thanking God for our home when His Spirit spoke to mine and said, “You asked for a home in this area.” Let me tell you it floored me!! I stopped right there and said, “Yes Lord I did, please forgive me for not thanking you sooner.” The house was what I had prayed about a couple of years before!! God is so good all the time.

So talk to God and if He has given you the talent to be a writer don’t doubt your success. It will come in God’s time. It will be the success He has planned especially for you and you will be happy. So now instead of worry have peace in your soul and know that God is in charge. He is working behind the scenes when we don’t see His hand in what we are doing. Go on and in your mind see your book on the best sellers list, see yourself doing huge book signings and start now thanking God for your success. Is this mind over matter? I don’t think so. Remember Isaiah 41:10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ That is a promise from God! So we don’t need to look around at other authors and see them getting published and wonder why we aren’t. We don’t need to worry if an agent will accept us or not. 2 Timothy 7 tells us; (For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.) All we need to do is keep writing and trusting God. It sounds so easy but let me tell you that you will have times of doubt. Satan will try to whisper in your ear that you are a fool and shouldn’t believe that God is in charge but don’t you believe him. You just keep praying and asking God what He wants you to do next and trust Him for a successful outcome.

Thanks for stopping by and until next time keep writing and keep trusting God and believe that you are a success because God doesn’t lie.

Recently my 67-year-old sister-in-law shocked her oldest daughter by telling her that she liked RAP music (for lack of a better word though it hardly qualifies as music.) We all got a good laugh out of that because we’re almost sure she doesn’t even know what RAP is. Or she might really shock us by knowing what it is. But it is highly doubtful. This is a woman who does not use swear words nor does she want them said around her. She is a true Southern Lady.

I thought about it and I decided I might like some RAP if they didn’t cuss so much. As I was growing up, and trust me that was many moons ago, we were taught that a person uses cuss words because they have a limited vocabulary. So the author of RAP just like any other writer should strive to develop a repertoire of words even though they might never use them in any of their work. We know that as writers we should tell the story (or song) in the most precise terms. A reader or listener does not want to struggle through fifty dollar words when ten-cent words will get the point across.

There are a number of ways to build our collection of words; Scrabble, learning a new word every day, reading and so on and on. I prefer the reading method. I like having the knowledge when and if I ever need it but like every one else I attempt to make my manuscripts an easy, enjoyable read. Our readers want to be entertained not impressed by our large vocabularies but on the other hand I feel they don’t want every other word to be a cuss word.

Will I listen to RAP? I have in the past when my sons and I were sharing a car. I didn’t really like it then but I did enjoy sharing the moment with which ever son was driving me to and from work that particular day. They were also kind enough to listen to my Country Music on rare, very rare, occasions. Today if you get in my car and turn on the CD player you will probably hear something like “The Wheels on The Bus Go Round and Round.” Why? Because that is the kind of music my two-year old grandson enjoys and we are sharing moments and building happy memories.

I like most music but not all of any genre. Music is part of life and wouldn’t the world be colorless without it?

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time settle back in a comfort chair and listen to RAP… or not. God bless.

Do you ever doubt your writing skills? You know you are a writer maybe you’ve even have published books to prove it. But you sit down at the computer and you think, “I can’t do this. I can’t get my thoughts to come out the way I want them to.” And a small internal voice whispers, “Of course you can’t. Who are you trying to fool? You can’t write and even if you put words on the paper no one will want to read them.” Then you hear. “Writing is a hard world to break into. You have to know somebody who knows somebody to even get your big toe in the door. You might as well give it up.” And you think “Who do I know?” And you come up with “On one.”

But you are wrong! If you are a Christian you know God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and they are bigger than anything, even the publishing business. If God has given you the talent to write He will open the doors that He wants open for you. We don’t need to worry about which doors will get open and how they get open. That is not our job! Our job is to write and keep writing. We know God gave us the talent so we have to trust Him to guide us where we should be.

In James 1; 1 – 8 James tells us to trust God and not be double minded. If we know God gave us our writing talent then we can trust Him to show us how to succeed.

We must practice our faith in our every day lives. When a problem arises we should think of God immediately. Once we have talked to Him we know He has worked the situation out for our benefit. (Romans 8: 28) When we ask we must have faith that it is done. Jesus was the perfect example to this. He would get alone to talk to God and we read where He knew what to do and say. Jesus didn’t doubt God because He knew God was and is bigger and more powerful than anything this world can throw at us. We too must know this. We are God’s children and He works all things for our good. So when we go to our Father we should go knowing whatever we ask will be done.

Satan wants us to be full of doubts and fail. He wants to destroy us. If we are destroyed and fail what glory does that bring God? But on the other hand God wants us to succeed and be prosperous. I fully believe He would not have given us the desire to write if He didn’t want us to be authors.

A good practice is when you sit down to write, first bow your head and ask God to guide you; ask Him to write the story through you. Then start writing and leave the consequences to Him. You will have more confidence in yourself and the work you produce.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time keep writing but more important keep believing and praying and remember God is greater. God bless.

My thoughts for today might seem a bit scrambled. And I will blame that on too many political commercials or should we call it what it is and say too much mud-slinging by the candidates. Are you like me and inundated information that says each man is the best and if elected he will turn this country around and once again make us a “kick-ass” country instead of a “kiss-ass” country. (Pardon the language please?) If so my two cents might help you make up your mind about who to vote for or you will simply take it along with the other politics.

No one man got us in the fix we are in today and no one man can get us out. Period! We, the Christians can take the blame for that. There was a time when the husband was head of the home and he went out made the living for the family and was proud to do so. The wife was happy to stay home and take care of the home and family. She taught her children Christian principles and manners. She did not expect the school to do. And she taught her children to respect authority. When I say husband and wife I mean one man and one woman who are married and not just living together first to see how it works and certainly not two men or two women. During that time the children were born after the wedding.

Now a days Christians are not standing up for our values and the Christians principles that we are taught. We accept the world’s standards! In so many cases you can’t tell the Christians from the world we have come to accept and be so much like them. We want the schools and churches to teach our children right from wrong but even if they do we fail to support their teaching. We, Christians are living together out-of-wedlock, we’re having babies without marriage, and we accept homosexuality; to name a few. The list goes on and on just look around. If little Johnny sees his daddy cheat on his taxes then he figures it is all right for him to cheat on his school test. If we say “Don’t drink” but our children see a cabinet in our home filled with alcoholic beverages then they get a double message which leads to a double standard.

Back when I was growing up the family all sat around the table and had dinner together. That was a time when we could talk and discuss our day and what was happening in our lives. Today most parents are too busy to sit down and eat with their children. This starts when the kids are babies and continues. So when do they communicate with each other? Almost never! The parents are more interested in their careers. They hardly know their own children because some other woman called a nanny or housekeeper is raising them. And while she is raising their children someone else is caring for hers. Oh…I know they say it takes two salaries in today’s economy. But there is a reason for that. Today they must have a big houses, two cars, boats, and on and on. Today even the Jones are keeping up with the Jones. And I ask why? Why are we throwing the important thing out the window? Our family! And striving for what’s important to the world.

No Satan is doing what he should be doing. He is destroying our families thus our Christian principles and values. It is we Christians who are failing to do what we should be doing. We don’t need a whole village to raise our children we need to do the job ourselves and do it based on Christian values.

Thanks for listening to my thoughts today. Until next time give it some thought and keep believing, keep trusting God and keep praying. The world needs more praying parents. God bless.